Linz,

Linz, capital of the crown-land of Upper Austria, is situated on the right bank of the Danube, which is here crossed by an iron bridge 780 feet long, 117 miles by rail W. of Vienna. Pop. (1890) 47,685. It has a splendid new Gothic cathedral (1862-90), the old cathedral church (1670), the bishop's palace, the national museum, a library of 33,000 vols., a bishop's seminary, a commercial school, &c. Owing to its situation on the Danube and to its being an important railway centre, Linz is a busy commercial place; its industries include the manufacture of woollen goods, tobacco, linen, leather, machinery, &c. Shipbuilding is likewise carried on. As a place of some strategic importance Linz has been besieged on several occasions, notably by the peasants in 1626, and during the war of the Austrian succession in 1741 and again in 1742. Here peace was signed between the Emperor Ferdinand III. and George Rakoczy of Transylvania in 1645, and in the vicinity Bernadotte defeated the Austrians in 1809. See works by Krackowizer (1875) and Hiptmair (1885).